What Do You Want From Staying Clean and Sober?

What Do You Want From Staying Clean and Sober?

This might sound like a dumb question, but you might not be able to answer it when you first get clean and sober. Your main focus is not to pick up a drink or drug one minute, hour and day at a time. That’s it. Good for you!

As you progress with your recovery, whether through an inpatient rehab, Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Alcoholics Anonymous, (AA), group or individual therapy, your ability to grow and change increases. Maybe the first thing that comes to your mind is helping that newcomer who just walked through the door. You’ve been where she’s been. You know shame, dejection, embarrassment, low self esteem and more.

You can make daily goals for what you want from staying clean and sober. Perhaps the most important thing you want today is hope. While hope is intangible, it is a major component of recovery. It keeps us in the present moment and it’s uncomplicated. I hope I can get through the day without a drink or drug. I hope that tomorrow will be easier. I hope my family stays safe and healthy during the storm. Hope for getting through the day can be followed by an action step, like going to a meeting, to insure you stay clean and sober.

In recovery, there are lots of suggestions for staying clean and sober. We don’t want to put words in your mouth, but keeping your wants simple at first, helps. In early sobriety it can be easy to become overwhelmed, so sticking to what you know, can work well. Later in your sobriety you may come up with goals for your future, tangible things like reliable transportation, or a better work environment. Being sober opens a whole world of possibilities.

You don’t have to pressure yourself, you can write down your ideas and put them away for a week or two. When you look at the list again, do you notice whether your wants have changed? Have you already achieved them?

Staying sober is on a continuum—it’s part of the whole process of recovery. Perhaps you feel anxious most of the time and now all you want now is peace of mind. In order to achieve peace of mind you may need help. Therapy isn’t a fast track to peace of mind, but it certainly can help you figure out what’s at the root of the anxiety and move forward from there. Whatever it is you want, you have a good chance of attaining it if it is realistic. Keep changing, keep growing!

Start the new year with a new take on life. Recovery is your new chance at living. Lasting recovery is possible through infinite change. At Infinity Malibu, our clinical program is run by leaders in the addiction field. Providing cutting edge treatments, our program offers a transformative process. Infinite change. Infinite recovery. Call us today for information: 888-266-9048